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Tiste Edur
The Tiste Edur [tīst eh-'dər']Read for Pixels 2016 Interview As pronounced by Steven Erikson at 54:28 were a non-human Elder Race,Deadhouse Gates, Glossary, UK MMPB p.938 also known as the Children of Shadow.The Bonehunters, Glossary They were the third of Mother Dark's offspring.Memories of Ice, Chapter 10, Epigraph Little was known of the early history of the Edur, but they were originally from Kurald Emurlahn, which was also the name of their warren that still granted them the use of its Elder magic.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.41 When their warren was shattered, a group of Edur left Tiste lands led by Scabandari Bloodeye alongside a group of Tiste Andii led by Silchas Ruin. They eventually arrived at the continent later known as Lether. After fighting a brutal war with the K'Chain Che'Malle and subsequently betraying their Andii allies, the Edur settled in the northwest of the Lether continent.Midnight Tides, Prologue The Edur were a profoundly long lived people (some living over a hundred thousand years) whose culture was both resilient and conservative.Midnight Tides, Chapter 19, US SFBC p.568 Some said it was too conservative, preferring to dream of past glories of a long ago golden age rather than move forward.Midnight Tides, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.440 Appearance Edur were grey-skinned with brown hair and angular eyes (of varying colours). They were of a height with the other Tiste peoples (i.e. taller than humans), but of a more brutal cast. Of the Edur population of the Northern Lether sub-continent, their clothing was barbaric in appearance, made from hides from various animals, and decorated with fetishes, claws, bones, and seashells.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.335House of Chains, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.205House of Chains, Chapter 12, UK MMPB p.520 In addition, they wore a wide belt upon which were placed marks indicating the number of victories they had achieved in battle.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, UK HC p.15 "The high cheekbones and angular eye sockets looked Tiste Andii, as did the man's evident height."Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, UK TPB p.336 "Tiste Edur. Grey-skinned, believed extinct - and thankfully so for it is a name sheathed in dread."Memories of Ice, Chapter 10, UK TPB p.325 “The four bodies were adorned in bone fetishes, claws, the canines of beasts and polished seashells. There was none of the fine Tiste Andii craftwork that Kulp had had occasion to see in the past. Moreover, all four were brown haired, the hair hanging loose and uncombed, stringy with grease.”Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.335 “A ring of greyskinned warriors faced him. Taller than lowlanders, but still a head shorter than the Teblor. Curved sabres were scabbarded to their hips and much of their clothing was made of some kind of hide, short-haired, dark and glistening. Their long brown hair was intricately braided, hanging down to frame angular, multihued eyes.”House of Chains, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.205 “As tall as Darist, their skin a dusky pallor. Long brown hair, knotted and snarled with fetishes. Necklaces of claws and canines competed with the barbarity of their roughly tanned armour that was stitched with articulating strips of bronze. Their helmets, also bronze, were shaped like bear or wolf skulls. Among them there was nothing of the natural majesty evident in Darist – or in Anomander Rake. A far more brutal cast, these Edur. Tip heavy black bladed scimitars were in their hands, sealskin covered round shields on their forearms.”House of Chains, Chapter 12, UK MMPB p.520 “on his wide belt was a row of twenty one red stained rivets, each one marking coup, and among those seven were ringed in white paint, to signify actual kills. Only his elder brother’s Sengar's belt sported more trophies.” - TrullMidnight Tides, Chapter 1, UK HC p.15 “(Hanradi Khalag)’s elongated eyes widened slightly.”The Bonehunters, Chapter 18, UK TPB p.586 History Tiste Edur history was shrouded in myths and falsehoods; little that the Edur themselves knew of their history was the truth, twisted as it was by the Edur to cast themselves in a better light. What was known was that their warren, Kurald Emurlahn, had been shattered and its fragments taken by false kings and gods.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.41 Afterwards, the Edur had invaded the Malazan world under the command of Scabandari, along with a legion of Tiste Andii under the command of Silchas Ruin, fleeing the sundering of Kurald Emurlahn and the wars among the Tiste which plagued Kurald Galain.Midnight Tides, Prologue, US SFBC p.19-25 Upon arriving in that world, they had warred with the K'Chain Che'Malle for dominance on the Lether continent. They managed to annihilate the K'Chain Che'Malle but at a great cost; of the initial 400,000 Tiste Andii, only a thousand survived, and of 200,000 Edur, only 18,000 remained. The losses of the Tiste Andii were in large part due to the treacherous actions of Scabandari, who held back his Tiste Edur to ensure that as many Edur survived, and as few Tiste Andii as possible. After the battle, Scabandari was named Bloodeye by Silchas Ruin, who noted that the Tiste Edur commander had himself been responsible for rivening Kurald Emurlahn. In an act of betrayal, Bloodeye then stabbed and imprisoned Ruin within an Azath house, and the Edur turned upon the remaining Tiste Andii and slew them. This betrayal did not remain unanswered, the Elder Gods of the Malazan realm and the Eleint went to war against Scabandari Bloodeye, whose skull was crushed by Kilmandaros and his soul imprisoned in eternal agony.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.118Reaper's Gale, Prologue The Edur were then scattered and reduced to barbarism. The last bastion was on the northernwestern Lether continent in the shadowed forests. The Edur themselves remembered a twisted version of this history, in which they were the ones betrayed, with the Andii having turned on them, and the Elder Gods then coming to persecute and scatter them. Little else was known of early Edur history, save for a sea-based conflict with the Imass, who had travelled with the Toblakai, who later became the Barghast.Memories of Ice, Chapter 10House of Chains, Chapter 6 The resolution of this conflict was also unknown, with both sides' legends claiming victory. The Edur also recalled that they had once been masters of the Hounds of Shadow.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.41 Other Edur were said to have links with the Moranth of Genabackis (drawn to a fragment of Kurald Emurlahn in Moranth Forest). They were also found among the serving class on Sepik where they were known as Rulhun'tal ven'or (Mudskins).The Bonehunters, Chapter 17 Edur nation The Edur nation was located on the Lether continent and consisted of six tribes: * Arapay * Beneda * Den-Ratha * Hiroth * Merude * Sollanta The Edur population was around 420,000,Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.118 and they could field roughly 250,000 warriors.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.124 The Hiroth tribe had risen to power and subjugated the other Edur tribes under the leadership of Hannan Mosag, the Warlock King, during the twelve year long War of Unification.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34 The Warlock King had taken the first-born sons of the chieftains from each of the tribes, stripped them of their names and bound them to him as his K'risnan.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34/46 Both loyal servants and hostages, the K'risnan had powerful sorcery at their command and through them Hannan Mosag ruled the Edur. Relations with their rapacious and expansionist neighbours, the Kingdom of Lether, were warily governed by treaty. Only seven Letherii Acquitors were allowed to bring Letherii merchants into the tribal lands to trade.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.60 While the Edur had been engaged in the War of Unification, the Letherii had taken the opportunity to sieze the Edur's seasonal fishing camps on the Reach.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34/40 Villages There were more than thirty Edur villages indicated on the map of Tiste Edur lands included with Midnight Tides. Some, like the village of Hannan Mosag and the Sengars with its population of eighty thousand, could more accurately be described as cities.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.35 The Warlock King's village was surrounded by a towering cedar palisade outside which slaves tilled the ground and tanners ran their operations. Inside the walls were the tribe's smithies where they forged weapons and other metal implements. Next came the elongated, brick-lined storage rooms for grain, smoked fish and seal meat, whale oil, and fibre plants.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34-35 Further into the village were the stone houses of weavers, potters, carvers, scribes, armourers and other skilled workers followed by residential streets. Amidst the homes were shadowy shrines to Father Shadow and his Sheltatha Lore surrounded by Blackwood trees. Black-barked cedar infused with sorcery lined the Avenue of the Warlock leading to the village's central palisade and massive citadel.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.35-36 The palisade surrounding the citadel was formed by Blackwood into which were carved wards. Passage through the main gate led through a dark tunnel of Blackwood trees and across a footbridge over a canal. Inside was a flagstoned compound flanked by barracks and storehouses as well as the stone and timber longhouses of the noble families with blood ties to the Warlock King. Another footbridge led to the citadel itself. The citadel was both temple and palace, and the seat of the Warlock King. The King's Hall,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.43 or King's Meet, was where the village council met with the Warlock King. It was a vast, circular chamber whose blackwood boles rose to a central peak lost in smoke. At the centre was a raised dais, fifteen paces across, where stood the Warlock King and his K'risnan. On the packed earth floor around him sat the blooded warriors of the council. Behind them floor raised an arm length's upwards to several rings occupied by different categories of witnesses. First was the unwedded and betrothed women sitting crosslegged on hides. Further out were a ring of backed benches for the matrons, widows, and wedded women. All of these groups were surrounded by the unblooded warriors of noble birth who stood in the back.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.45 The Meet was lit by oil lamps and curtains obscured entrances to other rooms and hallways.Midnight Tides, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.356 Agriculture and foraging The Tiste Edur split their food production by gender. Women engaged in agriculture, overseeing the slave labour needed to raise crops outside the walls of their villages. The Edur fields produced nearly thirty types of plants used for food, medicine, fibres, and feed for their livestock. Surplus grains were stored in segmented bee-hive shaped buildings. Honey and wax were collected from beehives. Men engaged in hunting and foraging activities. They travelled in small groups to the forests to hunt or cut timber. Other men took to the sea to hunt Tusked seals, whales, and fish.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34 At the start of Midnight Tides, the season's seal hunt was expected to provide a food surplus for the first time since the War of unification ended.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.40 Nobility Tiste Edur noble families could trace their lineage back to the time of the Tiste invasion of the Malazan world. Their homes still bore an original weapon of Emurlahn-forged iron embedded in a living blackwood tree as symbol of their family's standing. The Sengar longhouse was likely typical of the nobility. Its outer walls were decorated with centuries of trophy shields and whale bones clung to the underside of the roof's overhang. The doorway to the house was decorated with totems stolen from rival tribes, including strips of fur, beaded hide, shells, talons, and teeth. The home's walls were decorated with tapestries and stretched furs and lit by oil lamps set in niches. Scores of weapons were hung from crossbeams in the home's ceiling. At the centre of the chamber was the traditional hearthstone where families used to cook meals before kitchens operated by slaves were moved outside to reduce the risk of fire. The house possessed no dividing walls, instead "rooms" were marked out by the placement of Blackwood furniture.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.37-38 Near the hearthstone was the bole of the living blackwood tree in which the Emurlahn-forged weapon was embedded. The weapons were embedded against the trees when they were saplings and usually disappeared within the tree's heartwood within centuries. The family's matriarch maintained a bloodline tapestry detailing the family's accomplishments. Nobles slept within the longhouse on thinly padded mattresses or matsMidnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.288 while slaves slept on sleeping pallets within the longhouse's small alcoves.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.100 Magic Approximately, three-fifths of the Edur were able to employ sorcery. The shattering of their racial warren, Kurald Emurlahn, meant there were many different fragments to draw on and a myriad of flavours to Edur magic.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.101 Something in the Edur blood made them difficult to accurately detect with magical means. An magical observer might determine Edur were present, but would struggle to provide an exact count or positioning.Midnight Tides, Chapter 16, US SFBC p.491 Slavery The Tiste Edur held vast numbers of foreign slaves. A count of the number of residents in Hannan Mosag's village alone listed twenty-thousand Edur and sixty-thousand Letherii.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.35 Some foreigners, like Udinaas, were seized and made slaves in retaliation for transgressions against the Edur.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.43 The majority, like Feather Witch, were likely born of untold generations of captives.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.49-50 Slaves born into captivity were allowed to be named by their mothers or grandmothers.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.223 Slaves were assigned any number of menial tasks such as harvesting the fields,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34 mending fishing nets,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.43 gathering seaweed,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.44 preparing food, or serving as the personal handmaid to a noblewoman.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.50 Some tasks were prohibited, such as allowing former sailors access to the open water.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.43-44 It was expected that slaves would be granted a period of rest between major tasks.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.168-169 Although the Edur thought little of their slaves' ways or interior lives,Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.98 their outward conduct was highly regulated. Slaves were required to bow deferentially to any Edur,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.34 even going so far as to drop to their knees with their heads pressed to the ground when in the presence of the leaders of the noble houses.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.100 Slaves were rarely beaten for their transgressions and most egregious crimes were punished with swift death.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.241 A slave who dared to accidentally despoil a molten hot funeral coin with a drop of their sweat, for example, was executed as a blasphemer.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.97 Even so, Udinaas did not find the life of a Hiroth slave particularly harsh compared to the life of a Letherii Indebted. Obedience among the Edur was at least rewarded with protection, clothing, shelter, and food.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.43 Edur Religion The Edur religion was based on the worship of four Tiste Soletaken Eleint: Scabandari Bloodeye (Father Shadow) and his three daughters: Menandore (Daughter Dawn), Sukul Ankhadu (Daughter of Deceit, Dapple), and Sheltatha Lore (Daughter Dusk). Scabandari led the Tiste Edur invasion of the Malazan world, but then disappeared from the Edur. Of the three daughters, Sheltatha Lore was the most revered, whereas Menandore seemed to be regarded as evil, and one to be feared. Sukul Ankhadu was regarded ambivalently, though not to be crossed. Due to the nature of the Eleint, it was unclear what relationship these four gods actually had with each other, and whether the three daughters were truly the daughters of Scanbandari Bloodeye was not known. At dusk, the Edur honoured Daughter Dusk with voices of prayer. Then villages fell silent as night fell. Total darkness belonged to the Betrayer. Serious discourse was forbidden at such time, and any marriages proposed or sealed in darkness were doomed. A child born in darkness was put to death, while lovers in full darkness did not touch each other.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.106 The rise of the moon and the cast of its shadow were a welcome reminder that darkness was not eternal and that the Betrayer had failed to slay Scabandari. Even so, Edur who travelled by night avoided stepping into pools of full moonlight as the moon itself was where Scabandari had imprisoned Brother Light.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.107/113 The colour white was symbolic of evil, both for its representation of MenandoreMidnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.40 and likely for its association with Silchas Ruin. Blackwood Blackwood was a unique and precious resource to the Edur, brought by their ancestors to the Malazan world from Kurald Emurlahn.Midnight Tides, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.563 They used it to construct their homes and ships,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.38/43 decorate their villages and sacred sites,Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.36 define the boundaries of their territories,Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.164 and invested it with Kurald Emurlahn sorceries to cast a perpetual shadow.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.36 Emurlahn iron The art of forging Emurlahn iron was lost in the days after Father Shadow's disappearance. These black and silver blades had undergone some treatment that Edur smiths still had not rediscovered many thousands of years later. Possession of such weapons from the Edur's prouder days was symbolic of nobility. When Edur raided Letherii ships, they took every piece of iron they could find.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.36 Warrior culture Male Tiste Edur were divided into those warriors who were blooded and those who were unblooded. When a young warrior reached a certain age they began taking part in raids and battles against the other tribes. These activities were strictly bound in rules and prohibition and so rarely led to the death of an opponent. Instead, trophies were earned for counting coup and prominently displayed as red-stained rivets the warriors belt. Rivets ringed in white paint signified actual kills.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.33Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.179 The same rules did not apply to non-Edur opponents. Letherii were killed out of hand even if they were weaponless. Even the helpless and innocent were fair game.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.33-34 Trophies stolen from rival tribes were used to decorate the warrior's home. Those who earned trophies became blooded, earning additional rights among the tribe. Only the blooded were allowed to participate in the councils of the Warlock King at the King's Meet and offer their opinions or advice.Midnight Tides, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.33 In ancient times, war was announced with a blood sacrifice. An unblooded warrior's throat was cut to spill blood down the bow of the army's lead ship in the name of the three daughters. At some point, this tradition was discarded.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.178-179 Seafaring The Edur were accomplished sailors and were known for the quality of their K'orthan longboats. These raiding vessels were made of living Blackwood and were capable of healing themselves, were resistant to magic, and far outsped other nations' ships in the water.Midnight Tides, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.124-125 They used wider, shallower Knarri vessels for whaling and fishing.Midnight Tides, Glossary Marriage Edur males sexually matured slower than females and marriage usually did not occur until at least a decade into adulthood.Midnight Tides, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.254 A Tiste Edur suitor forged a sword and stood before his intended with the blade resting on the backs of his hands. Before witnesses, the potential bride took possession of the blade and carried it to her home marking the start of their betrothal. A year later, she exited the home with the blade and used it to carve a trench before the threshold. The sword was then buried in the trench and the couple was deemed married.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.108 The newly married couple lived with the husband's family for a year before moving to their own home.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.179 Edur were expected to remain virgins until married.Midnight Tides, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.225 Funerary customs As a race that could live for over a hundred thousand years, "grieving was less about loss than about being lost."Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.99 Preparing a body for burial was a three day process that began in the long wooden structure known as the House of the Dead.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.278/280 Bodies were laid out on a bed of sand to drain, if necessary. Then any wounds were cleaned and evened out with soft wax. It was forbidden to mutilate the body in any way.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.279-280 The body was surrounded by six Tiste Edur widows as a huge iron tray of coins was heated over coals. Copper coins were used for the unblooded while gold coins were used for blooded killed in battle.Midnight Tides, Chapter 9, US SFBC p.278 Once the coins began to glow, slaves used pincers to place them atop the fired-clay plates before each widow. Then the widows used fine pincers to place the red-hot coins on the corpse's eye sockets, nose, forehead, and cheeks close enough together that the edges of the coins touched. As the coins were placed they melted to the flesh. The placement of coins continued for the rest of the body except the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. As each side was completed it was covered in melted amber wax. The entire process took most of a day and was accompanied by a song of mourning that sounded like "hunh, hunh, hunh".Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.97-98 Leaves of the Morok tree were placed atop the wax so that when they rotted they imbued the wax with a bluish stain. This caused the body to appear as if it were a shadow encased in ice.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.106 Afterwards, the copper-sheathed corpse was placed within a hollowed-out Blackwood trunk, and six days later buried within one of the dozen sacred groves where it might become the haven of a wandering Shadow wraith. Each of the widows would take turns repeating the dirge until the burial was completed.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.100/106 During the hours of darkness before burial, an Edur warrior guarded the body from hungry earth spirits or the spirits of uprooted Blackwoods.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.107-109 The funeral arrangement was completed with the creation of a pyre that burned for an entire day and night. The coin-sheathed corpse was baked like clay as shadow wraiths danced in the flames.Midnight Tides, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.160/167 Crime and Justice Hannan Mosag claimed the pursuit of vengeance was the greatest flaw among the Tiste Edur. Hence, feuds were forbidden. Crimes of vengeance resulted in the disgraced execution of the offender's entire bloodline.Midnight Tides, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.107 Leisure Edur nobles played games on boards fashioned from huge palmate antlers using playing pieces carved from ivory and jade. At least four players could participate in a single game. Language For a list of known Tiste Edur words and phrases as well as translations please visit the Tiste Language page. Quotes In House of Chains The Tiste Edur, indirectly commanded by the Crippled God, attacked Drift Avalii so they might take the Throne of Shadow for their master. Their attacks were held back by a group of stranded Malazans with Hawl amongst them as well as Andarist, Cutter, Apsalar, Cotillion, Phaed, and Traveller.House of Chains, Chapter 12House of Chains, Chapter 9 In Midnight Tides The Edur Warlock King Hannan Mosag accepted the aid of the Crippled God in pursuit of power to to make himself and his people unassailable. But the warlock king had no stomach for conquest so the Crippled God pushed him aside for Rhulad Sengar. Driven nearly mad by the god's cursed sword, the now immortal Rhulad declared himself emperor of the Tiste Edur. Emperor Rhulad used the machinations of the Letherii Queen Janall Diskanar and her son, Prince Quillas, to declare war against the Kingdom of Lether at the Great Meeting between the two nations. With the Warlock King as his servant, Rhulad then embarked on a successful campaign to conquer the Lether. On the day of the Seventh Closure, Rhulad declared himself leader of the new Letherii Empire in the throne room of the Eternal Domicile. In The Bonehunters Three Eleint, Ampelas, Eloth, and Kalse, imprisoned in Kurald Emurlahn told Cotillion that Scabandari had long ago murdered the royal line of the Edur, spilled draconean blood in the heart of Kurald Emurlahn, and opened the first fatal wound that led to the Warren's demise.The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.78 The three Eleint attempted to heal the fractured Warren by seizing the Throne of Shadow, but were stopped by a vengeful Anomandaris and his Tiste Andii. Rake was determined to see the Throne remain unclaimed.The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.76 In Reaper's Gale The Edur sent fleets to roam the world ravaging the coastlines of neighbouring continents seeking champions to fight their seemingly immortal Emperor. Notes and references de:Tiste Edur pl:Tiste Edur Category:Tiste Edur Category:Tiste races